Twenty Something Years
by asunnydisposition
Summary: Shindou and Kirino had known each other since kindergarten. They eventually enrolled in the same school and became classmates. They'd been friends since they were younger but only became best friends when they were in the third grade. During their first year in junior high, Kirino realized that his feelings for ShindouIMSOMADWHYISNTTHEREENOUGHSPACEFORTHECOMPLETESUMMARYOHMYGOD


Shindou held onto his mother's hand tightly, not wanting to let go in fear that he would never see her again. His mother, a tall and slim woman with hair just like his, tutted and shook her head. She bent down so that she was level with her son and started to gently pry off his fingers. When his pinky finger was the only one left, Shindou's other hand grabbed his mother's unoccupied one and the process would start again.

His mother grew impatient and smiled at the kindergarten teacher standing by the door. She gave her a sheepish smile which the other returned, fully understanding that the first day of school was always the most difficult.

"Now Takuto, you're unreasonable right now. I have to go soon and you know that," she reprimanded him in a soft voice. "I'll come back for you early and after that we can go get your favourite ice cream."

Shindou stubbornly shook his head, gripping her hand even tighter.

"Takuto!" She winced when she felt Shindou's fingernails dig into her skin. She shook off her son's hands and clasped them in her own. "Takuto, look at me." Her voice had grown quieter, tired of her son's shenanigans.

Shindou refused, looking down at his feet but his mother could see the tears that were threatening to fall.

"This won't last forever. The school day will be over before you know it, just you see. You might even make new friends here."

Shindou looked up at his mother, his bottom lip shaking. His mother sighed and patted him on the head.

"I don't want to make new friends, I want to go back!" He cried, his voice wavering. The teacher shuffled awkwardly before pointing inside. Shindou's mother gave her a tired smile and nodded. Once the woman had gone inside, she picked him up and started to coo small words of comfort, rubbing Shindou's back when he started to cough.

When he was finished crying, she put him down and took out a handkerchief, wiping his tears and snot.

"Are you ready to go in now?" She asked, hoping that he wouldn't start crying again. She glanced at her wristwatch, noting that she was going to be late if he started another scene.

Shindou rubbed his eyes, tired from crying, and said yes. She took his hand and walked them towards the door. Once they were inside, she looked for the teacher and started to wave when she found her. The kindergarten teacher, a slender woman who looked like she was in her early twenties, walked over to them, adjusting her glasses.

Shindou grabbed his mother's skirt and hid behind her legs. He puffed out his cheeks when the woman reached for his hand.

"Takuto can be a little shy around new people," she said, ruffling his hair. "I apologize in advance if he's a little stubborn at first. I'm afraid he gets that from me." She pushed him towards his teacher.

"Oh, I know what you mean. My nieces and nephews can be like that as well." The woman giggled, offering her hand to Shindou again, waiting to see if he'd take it.

Shindou eyed the woman slowly. She was wearing a yellow smock that had a duck on it and her black hair was cut short. He met her eyes and he was greeted by a bright grin. He took a step forward and slowly reached for her hand. She took his hand and shook it, her voice just as sunny as her smile.

"It's very nice to meet you. My name is Saito Akina. What's your name?"

Shindou looked at his mother, looking for reassurance.

"Go on. Introduce yourself." She said.

"Shindou Takuto." He said, voice so soft that Akina had to lean in closer.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Takuto-kun. And you must be his mother, correct?" She asked, turning her attention to Shindou's mother.

"Yes I am. My name is Shindou Maeko. A pleasure to meet you, Akina-san."

While the two women were busy with formalities, Shindou started to scan the room of the small kindergarten.

At the front of the room was a medium sized whiteboard with the names of the students written in blue. Beside their names was a column with red stars. Some of the names had as many as five stars while there were some with two or even one star. Next to the whiteboard was a blue bookshelf with several, small paper cartons on top.

There were children busy colouring in their seats, two girls were giggling at joke that they shared, and a boy was dipping his sleeping seatmate's hair in blue paint. Shindou watched as another boy took the boy's other pigtail and dipped it in yellow paint. The children who weren't painting tried to contain their laughter, paint covered hands covering their mouths.

Shindou felt himself frown and he pulled away from the teacher, who was finishing up with his mother. Akina noticed that Shindou had let go of her hand but didn't mention a thing, smiling since it seemed like he was starting to like his other classmates already. He might even have a friend or two before the day ends. Bidding his mother goodbye - Maeko had tried to peek in and call Shindou herself but was stopped by Akina, who told her that if she called her son now, he might make another scene and not let his mother go - Akina sighed and felt like patting herself on the back. She did a pretty good job, if she did say so herself.

A high pitched scream shook Akina out of her self-congratulatory daydream. Quickly finding the source of the scream, she made her way to the small group of children - when did that happen? She was only gone for a few minutes – and quickly stopped the fight before it even happened.

A little boy with a shaved head was rubbing his eyes, smearing green paint across his eyelids, while another boy with pink pigtails was trying to grab the other.

"Everyone go back to your seats. Mito-kun, Ranmaru-kun, both of you are coming with me," Akina held their hands, walking them outside to get the both of them cleaned up. She turned to face the class and clapped her hands. "Alright everyone. Please continue your paintings and then we'll hang them outside to dry later, okay?"

Once the class had settled down and everyone was busy with their paintings, Akina pulled aside the two boys. Mito had stopped crying and was starting to hiccup now while Ranmaru was shooting him the meanest glare a five year old can muster, blue and yellow paint drying on his pigtails.

She took some tissues and handed one to Mito, telling him to blow his nose. After she was done cleaning him up – the green paint took a bit of work but she was able to get everything off- Akina took one look at Kirino and wondered how the hell was she going to get the paint off.

Taking more tissues and wetting it slightly with water, she undid Kirino's pigtails and started to rub the paint off.

"Now then, do you mind telling me what's going on?" She asked, finding it harder to remove the paint from his hair.

Asking them what had happened was a bad idea since both boys started telling their own version of the story. Their voices started to grow louder and louder, catching the attention of some of their classmates. Akina looked over her shoulder and saw them trying to get a peek of what was happening.

"Are you all done with your paintings?"

The children who tried to peek, instantly went inside. The only one left standing there was Shindou.

"Takuto, sweetheart, why don't you go inside and ask someone to help you. Maybe Hana can help you," Akina said, waiting for the other boy to go inside so that they can finish. "Hana-chan, please help Takuto-kun here with his painting."

A little girl with red hair tied in a ponytail appeared, her cheek had a bit of yellow paint on it. She grinned at Shindou and took his hand, leading him back inside. Akina could hear her chattering a mile a minute. If anyone could get him to be more talkative and responsive, it would be Hana.

Now that they were alone, Akina went back to trying to remove the paint.

"Mito-kun, what happened?" She asked him. "And why is there paint in Ranmaru-kun's hair?"

Mito shook his head, refusing to tell his teacher that he was the one who caused it. "I don't know what happened. Maybe he rolled over in his sleep and got paint in his hair?" He said, not making eye contact with either Akina or Kirino.

"No way! You and Shozo-kun were the ones who dipped my hair in paint!" Kirino yelled back, his fists clenching. His eyes started to sting but he wasn't going to let Mito have the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

"How would you know? You were asleep!"

"Mito-kun, that's enough," Akina said sternly, making the other boy go quiet. "Ranmaru-kun," she said, making him meet her eyes. "Are you sure Shozo-kun also dipped your hair in paint?"

Kirino nodded back weakly, rubbing his eyes. "Yes. It was Mito-kun and Shozo-kun who did it."

"Who told you?"

"The new kid," He said, a little more loudly this time. Since someone saw who did it, he was sure that she would believe him. "He even tried to stop the both of them. Then I woke up."

Akina nodded and made a mental note to tell this to Shindou's mother later. "Anything else?"

Kirino shook his head. He glared at Mito but this one was less filled with daggers and was more tired. Mito tried not to look at him but found it impossible.

When Akina had finally removed the paint from Kirino's hair, she told him to go inside and call Shozo. He came back with Shozo in tow, his feet dragging him slowly and face burning with shame at being ratted out. While Akina made Shozo confess to what he did, Kirino stood proudly, shooting them both smug grins.

The two boys apologized to Kirino, who told them that it was okay but they would have to give him their candy for the next week. Mito and Shozo began to offer him other things - toys, their favourite box of crayons - just not their candy. Kirino declined, telling him that he wanted their candy and that was that.

Akina stepped in and reminded Kirino that both boys had already apologized, so that he should be a little nicer to them. He thought about it for a few minutes before finally agreeing. He told them that they should give him their candy for the next two days. Both of them realized that they couldn't get out of this one so they agreed. The three of them shook hands with each other, sealing the deal.

The classroom was peaceful again, the three boys had already made peace with each other, and the other kids had stopped hounding them. Akina scanned the classroom and asked if everyone was finished. Everyone, except for Shindou, replied with a cheery yes.

Akina went around the room collecting the paintings, complimenting the work of each child. Once she had gotten to Shindou, who still wasn't finished, she told him to take his time and that there's no rush.

After all the paintings were with her, she ushered the children outside to play, telling them that she would call them for snacks later on.

Shindou sat alone, staring down his paper. He had coloured the whole sheet blue and now he didn't know what to paint next. He glanced at the other kids playing outside, wishing that he could go out as well. He sighed and dipped the paintbrush in red, swirling it around. He picked it up and dropped it on to his paper, the brush splattering spots on the blue background.

"You're doing it all wrong." Shindou looked up and saw the boy from earlier.

While Shindou tried to form words, the boy had already pulled up a chair and sat next to him. He grabbed Shindou's painting from him and frowned. He turned it over, tipping his head, trying to make sense of what was in front of him.

"Akina-sensei told us to paint our favourite vegetables. What's this s'posed to be? Some kinda weird flying tomatoes?" The boy asked, giggling at the thought of flying vegetables.

Shindou huffed indignantly, snatching it back from him. "They were supposed be corn."

The boy doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed. "Corn isn't even red!"

Shindou knew that corn wasn't red, he just wanted to pass time until his mama came to pick him up. He got up and took his materials with him. The boy was still laughing when he had already moved tables. Maybe helping him earlier wasn't a good idea, he thought.

The laughter eventually died down and he heard the sound of a chair scraping the floor, hoping that the other boy would just go play or leave him alone or something. The chair next to him was soon occupied by the same boy, leaning over to look at Shindou's painting.

"Please don't do tha-"

"Thank you for helping me. My name's Kirino Ranmaru. What's yours?" He asked, beaming at Shindou.

Shindou stuttered, swallowing down his words and gaping at Kirino.

"Hey, you look like a fish. Stop that. I asked you what your name is." He asked again, this time taking the brush from Shindou and using the wooden end to poke him.

Shindou flinched when his side got poked. "Shindou Takuto."

Kirino grinned, handing him back his paintbrush. "Thanks for helping me, Takuto-kun."

Shindou smiled back. He took the brush from him and stirred the small jar of yellow paint. Shindou, suddenly aware that his new friend – were they friends? He hoped so. At least he would have someone to play with now – was watching him, felt like showing off how good he could paint. Taking long strokes, he made the outline of the corn and when it was time to colour it in, he made sure to do it carefully, just like his mama taught him.

Kirino, seeing that his new playmate – he had decided that they were friends – was good at colouring inside the lines, watched in awe. Shindou was definitely a good painter and he didn't make too much of a mess.

"Hey, you look like a fish." Shindou said, poking Kirino's cheek with the wooden end of the brush.

Kirino stuck out his tongue, making Shindou giggle. "Just go back to painting already."

There were several children left in the classroom, the others had already been picked up. Shindou and Kirino were by the blue bookshelf, the latter telling him about the paper cartons. He took his paper carton and showed it to Shindou. There was dirt and a small, green sprout inside the carton.

He explained that they had planted beans and they were waiting for them to grow. Once they were big enough, they were allowed to take them home.

"I hope mine grows really big." Kirino said, looking at the carton in his hands as if he had planted golden seeds instead of ordinary beans.

"How big?"

"Really, really big!" He said, stretching his arms as wide as he could. "I want it as big as a tree. No! Maybe even bigger!" Kirino laughed. He wanted it to be as big as the beanstalk that Akina-sensei had read to them once. He could go on adventures and take Shindou with him.

"If you want, we can go talk to Akina-sensei and you can grow your own too!" The thought of going on adventures with his new friend made him feel excited and jittery. He reached up and placed the carton back on the bookshelf before grabbing Shindou's hand and running up to their teacher.

Akina, who had been busy fixing the mess on her desk, was suddenly bombarded with questions.

"Akina-sensei, can Takuto-kun have his own carton and beans?"

"Akina-sensei, how big will Ranmaru-kun's beansprout grow?"

"Akina-sensei, when can Takuto-kun have his own carton?"

"Akina-sensei, can I have my own carton now?"

Maeko waited for her son outside, politely chatting with another mother. She saw Akina and asked if her son was ready to go. Akina gestured to wait a little longer.

Akina finally stepped out, followed by Kirino and Shindou. Both boys were talking excitedly about the future beansprouts, telling each other that if that their beansprout did grow big enough that they could climb it, they promised that they'd take the other and go on adventures and be heroes and save princesses.

"Ranmaru." The woman who was chatting with Maeko, called her son, beckoning him to hurry up.

"Mama!" Kirino ran up to the woman and showed her the painting that he did in class. While she complimented him on his wonderful painting, Shindou had gone up to his mother and told him about his painting and that he was going to show it to her tomorrow since it was still drying.

Kirino, who had been watching Shindou talk with his mother, suddenly blurted out, "Takuto-kun's mama is really pretty!" When he realized what he had just said, he covered his mouth instantly, cheeks colouring a little.

Maeko, taken by surprise by the sudden outburst, thanked Kirino, making him blush even deeper.

"Thank you," she looked at her son. "Takuto-kun, what's your friend's name?"

"Ah, his name is Kirino Ranmaru," he said proudly. "Ranmaru-kun's mama is also very pretty." He added, looking up at the woman who was holding his friend's painting. She gave him a smile and thanked him, telling her son that he had such a well-mannered friend.

Both boys said their goodbyes, bidding their teacher goodbye as well. Kirino made a promise that he would save Shindou a seat tomorrow in class then they could continue their tour of the classroom. Shindou agreed and said that he would like that a lot.

When they parted ways, Kirino paused the story he was telling to his mama and looked behind him, waving goodbye to his new friend.

Shindou looked over his shoulder and waved. For the first time since they moved here, he was already looking forward for tomorrow.

This was supposed to be a short fluffy drabble thing but I enjoyed writing it so I…yeah…wooh!

Another multichapter fanfic I'm going to be working on. So now I have TSoG and this. Basically, 2 multichap fics ahahahahahaaaha...

This hasn't been proofread yet, I literally just wrote this on a whim because 'oh wow hmm Kirino's a really great character it's a shame that he wasn't that very well developed oh what if I did that and elaborate more on his and Shindou's relationship growing up yeah that'd be cool'. If there are any grammatical errors, don't be afraid to tell me. Thank you so much for reading! Feedback and likes are very much appreciated!


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